Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 4)

Mina, Ever, and Nix followed and spread out to surround a small glass table which held on it an inscribed and gilded wooden box.

Constance waited until the door behind them had completely closed before she spoke. “Nix please lock the door, I need to put up a ward so nothing escapes.”

He turned the deadbolt on the door and Constance—Mrs. Colbert—sang a scale of disharmonic notes. The letters on the box lit up, and Mina heard another click as if the box had unlocked.

Nan looked scared, but her curiosity got the better of her. “Escape? What’s go—”

Nan froze. Mrs. Colbert finished waving her hand in the air and let it fall to her side.

“What did you do? Unfreeze her now!” Mina rushed to her friend and checked to see if she’d been harmed.

“She’s fine and will unfreeze momentarily. We just need a minute without her to discuss our terms before we proceed.”

Mrs. Colbert gently opened up the lid and then pulled the sides open to reveal a hundred small compartments, each covered with a unique symbol. Her fingers flowed across each of them as she searched for the one she wanted.

“Aha!” she said softly. As she pulled open the small compartment, a tendril of light began to trickle out of the box. She wound it around her finger, and it solidified into a small golden charm. Quickly, she closed the drawer, as another tendril of light wanted to escape after the first one.

>Nan’s eyes widened as she recognized the small Chinese woman as well. She nodded.

“She goes by Meira here.”

Mrs. Wong smiled at Nan. “I’m a brownie. You can call me Mei.”

Anders ran across the polished floor toward Constance in obvious distress, squeaking and making odd noises. Her brows narrowed and she frowned. Apparently, Constance could understand them. “What happened, Baldander?”

The creature answered.

“I see. That’s horrible!”

She looked to Nix. “Are you okay? Would you like to go to the healing garden?”

Nix shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I won’t leave Mina.”

“As you like. Let’s get them dry.” Constance nodded to the puddles that were forming under their feet.

Mei waved her hands over the girls’ clothes and, within seconds, they were dry.

Mina filled Constance in on their earlier events—the accident and Teague’s warning. Both Mei and Constance were stumped.

“We shall have this incident investigated immediately,” Constance said.

“Mina,” Mei said softly, “on the tail of our recent discovery, this is worrisome indeed.”

“The reason I’ve brought you here, Mina, is so you can meet with the leader of the Guild and we can discuss a development. Come with me now; Nan and Ever can stay here.”

“No, they come with me. I’m not letting Nan out of my sight, until I know that no one is going to mess with her memories.”

Constance’s eyes squinted, her thoughts impossible to discern.

“All right. But you mustn’t interfere with the Guild’s decision, Mina.”

“I won’t. As long as I agree with their decision,” Mina added. She slowly stepped in front of Nan, in a protective manner. Mei caught Mina’s eye and gave a subtle wink.

A small smile flew across Constance’s lips. “We shall see. Mei, notify Ken and the others to put more wards up and send a team to investigate this interloper. We can’t be left vulnerable,” Constance warned.

“Yes, we’ll get right on it,” Mei answered before disappearing out into the hall.

“Follow me please.” Constance gestured toward the girls.